Rodeo clown with Obama mask has big defender: Rush Limbaugh

What's wrong with making fun of the worst ruler any advanced state has ever had since Nero? For that matter, what would be wrong with making fun of Nero?

So now you are a racist bigot also?
That says much about you.

A racist bigot? I'm white, same as Bush. Bush was a moron, clearly the worst president since records began, and I hold him responsible for the deaths of thousands of British servicemen.

His similarity to a chimp is shown in the photographs that have not been altered in any way.

You say you're against racism but when push comes to shove you always come down on the side of the bigot, rodeo clowns should be allowed to be racist, killing Trayvon Martin was a good thing, killing Iraqi civilians even better.

Show me one time where I have EVER said that killing anyone was a good thing.
I have never defended the Trayvon Martin killing, nor have I ever defended killing civilians in Iraq.
Remember, I was in Iraq, you weren't.
I suggest you not talk about Iraq or what happened there because you don't have any idea what you are talking about.

Let me make this clear to you...
RACISM IS WRONG AND I DONT CONDONE OR SUPPORT IT.
However, I don't see racism and racists behind every tree or under every bush.

Don't you, when you start calling a white guy a racist for mocking another white guy you've lost the plot.

I know you were in Iraq, I would sooner have gone to prison than get involved in that illegal war.

Not seeing a racist around every corner does not mean that there are not racist in some corners. The clown show was clearly racist. The state issued an apology over it.

Actually it did - there was a similar incident with Bush...

In1994, Douglas A. Campbell, a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer chronicled a rodeo clown even featuring George H.W. Bush.

From the report:

The big white gate flew open. The bull came out bucking. The rider flopped from side to side and the bullfighters held back, letting the bull make his moves until the rider dropped off. Licciardello crouched in a heavily padded barrel, a human target should the bull decide to charge. Hawkins waited near the barrel, holding his big inner tube. A dummy with a George Bush mask stood beside the clown, propped up by a broomstick.
…
T.J. Hawkins rolled out the big inner tube, and the bull lowered his head, shot forward and launched into the tube, sending it bounding down the center of the arena. The crowd cheered. Then the bull saw the George Bush dummy. He tore into it, sending the rubber mask flying halfway across the sand as he turned toward the fence, sending cowboys scrambling up the fence rails, hooking one with his horn and tossing him off the fence.

I heard it this morning on the radio - that it is actually rather common to do this - they reported that a rodeo clown wore a Jimmy Carter mask.

I can't get access at work to the Philadelphia Inquiror its to verify - it is blocked. But there are many news articles about this - I was hoping to get directly from the source for verification but like I said I can't access it.

Although having Rush defend this act - isn't a way to get people on your side.

The premise of this thread, in my opinion, is that Obama having a Black parent, and the current belief still seems to reflect that if one has any Black blood, then one is Black, and not bi-racial for all intensive purposes, then the clown act was beyond the pale, so to speak. However, if the President was a white woman, there could be anti-female humor poked at that woman. Or, if the President was Jewish, or Asian, or an out-gay, there could be humor poked at that identity. So, the old saying might apply: it is lonely at the top. And, I say "humor" since the respective audience did find the clown act funny. So, one speaks/writes for one's audience, as we are taught in school.

Naturally, those that find the humor funny might just be exercising their constitutional right at free speech (free to laugh at whatever). Should the people that laughed at the rodeo be admonished? I think not. Just exercising their rights.

In my opinion, this thread might be driven by the same feelings that when men are in the presence of a "lady" they should not curse like the proverbial sailor. What the fcuk.

And, as a Caucasoidal American, I have wondered whether the President ever gives any thought to how many a white person really doesn't share his love of basketball, or his style of seemingly "bopping along" when he walks up to the podium. If I as an ethnic have not continued the stereotype behavior of waving my hands when talking, or raising my voice when talking, or not using correct English syntax when talking, why can't the President walk like earlier Presidents? In my opinion, quoting Marshall McLuhan, the medium is the message; so, bopping up to the podium might just be the message that your President is Black, not bi-racial. In other words, he might be doing his bopping schtick like many a Southerner, in the presence of Yankees, starts talking with many, "y'alls." Sort of putting others in their place, perhaps?

Every time he seemingly bops up to the podium my brain is primed to a memory of 1960's Black guys impressing themselves with walking with a "ditty bop." That was slow. At least the President bops along at a nice clip. Progress might be slow?

Also, if I was at the rodeo, I would not have found it funny, since I consider the type of humor appreciated by most of the people there was not my type of humor. Too hicky, to use a pejorative. And, they might be bored by an episode of Seinfeld. But, it was their right to laugh. And, if Blacks en masse are going to truly advance in this society, that from its inception was dominated by white Europeans, then at some point, in my opinion, they should stop being hypersensitive. If Jews 60 years after the Holocaust bores many a Gentile, with lamenting the Holocaust, then what about Blacks accepting that not everyone will treat them with the respect afforded others. It is just the way of the world. So many sensitive people.

Lastly, in urban centers, with large minority communities, I think we can agree that no whites would have laughed if anything like this was done. Why? Perhaps, the perception that whites have about the civility of Blacks might just affect their willingness to exercise their right to laugh at things done in poor taste. So, getting upset at folks, in another part of the country, can also reflect the silly belief that we all should be identifical in our beliefs.

Did they include bobbling the lips of Bush in the clown act?

Blacks should stop being hypersensitive and the president shouldn't bop up to the stadium. You are full of it. Maybe Obama just happens to bop? My sister does and guess what? She is not black; just full of energy.

As far as blacks not being hypersensitive, maybe when they are not treated to the same degree of contempt from certain whites, they will lighten up.

I have two granddaughters, one is blonde and blue eyed and very curvaceous for a ten year old. My other is mixed, absolutely lovely, for the most part she gets compliments every where she goes. She is lighter skinned but you can tell she is white/African American. We live in southern KY. She goes to a preschool, in her class there are only three blacks, one of whom is mixed also. They do get treated different, in fact we have been thinking of changing pre-schools because of it. You can call it ultra sensitive if you want, but is the reality in southern states. In fact before my youngest granddaughter was born, I never really realized just how subtle and pervasive prejudice still is.

btw, you are pretty "ultra sensitive" yourself.

My immediate reaction to this event is that it's racism run rampant. But then, I kind of like the current president, and my perception is probably colored by this. By contrast, I can definitely see myself laugh and applaud a rodeo clown playing George W. Bush, whom I consider a vicious idiot and whom I detested as president. So, are we really defending a Black president against racists, or are we denying irreverent humor to people who just happen to detest a different president than we do? Where's the line between the two?

I'd like to look at a control experiment before I decide that for myself. So, was George Bush ever subjected to the Rodeo-clown treatment? If he was, did anyone complain? If so, how did the people who ran that rodeo handle the complaint? Does any of you guys know?

EDIT: Thanks Linkat. I hadn't seen your post, and now that I have I don't know if the two events are equivalent. But it's a start.

I think the line occurs between parodying a President about his Politics, versus parodying a President about his Race.

This clown show was clearly perceived as being a racial attack and not a political attack and that's the big difference.

All of us on this thread are part of the 6,000-plus people who had posted on this subject by late Monday (probably double that figure now). Here's an interesting take on the internet reaction from the Kansas City Star.

Thomas...great commentary. I'm in the same boat vis-a-vis Bush.

They interviewed the rodeo clown... He noted the main difference between himself and Obunga was the fact that he (the clown) KNOWS he's a clown...

And that's the difference between you and me.
I swore an oath when I enlisted, and I keep my word, even when I don't want to.

By your own admission, you only keep promises or keep your word when its convenient for you.

So is that what made it "racist"?

I don't know what part of KY you live in, but here in Union County we don't have that problem.

During the Bush administration, I've seen plenty of comedians who parodied the president's narrow, stupid-looking hedgehog eyes and his Texas drawl. Which side of the line did that fall on?

Yeah, big lips is a fairly well known racist slur towards blacks.